Cherish Your Worth (Genesis 1:27-28, 2:7)

 

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:27-28 

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. - Genesis 2:7 

Beauty. Intelligence. Strength. Riches. Fame. Skill. Achievement. People have always used qualities such as these to determine their worth and the worth of others around them. What makes life worth living? Most of us are never going to be the subject of someone's biography, have a movie made about us, or have our names on a building. Why does it matter that we're here?

Our culture has learned to answer those questions just as incorrectly as all the cultures that have come before us. Whether we're classifying the lives of babies as nothing more than life decisions, worshiping the rich, famous, and beautiful, or considering the poor, elderly, and disabled as drains on society, we have forgotten the Bible's crucial message of our creation - the value of our lives is defined more by what we are than what we do.   

God created us out of dust - the most useless substance on the planet. Why dust? Why not gold, silver, or precious stones? 

If we were made of something intrinsically valuable, we would seek our worth from within. But God wants our worth to come from without - specifically, all humans were formed by Him and in His image.

ALL humans - the person you admire and the person you despise. The person you love and the person you avoid. The person who seems useful and the person you can't tell has accomplished a worthwhile thing in his entire life. All are walking, talking reflections of Who God is to each other and the rest of creation. 

In the days before mass media, kings once distributed statues, or images, of themselves in regal poses throughout their kingdoms so their subjects would remember who ruled over them. God glorifies Himself through His images, too, but His images are far more than statues. On His behalf, His images can love, think, talk, create, form communities, and lead. 

Of course, a major part of this reflection is the fact that He created us male and female. When I was a kid, I learned the song, "Rachel, Rachel, I've been thinking, what a grand world this would be! If the girls were all transported far beyond the Northern Sea!" And then the girls would sing their response, "Reuben, Reuben, I've been thinking, what a grand world this would be! If the BOYS were all transported far beyond the Northern Sea!'"

It was a fun kids' song but it was very wrong. Though our culture swings both ways between devaluing women or devaluing men, the fact remains that both are necessary to reflect the fullness of our Creator. Reuben and Rachel show God more completely than either alone ever did. Even if God sees fit that we remain single, we are a part of a human race where both men and women are necessary to reflect God.

Then we're to reflect Him to the rest of the created order. It and its beauty are not only gifts to us, we're to live in dominion over it, caring for it the way God does. Even the die-hard atheist feels an obligation to be concerned about the welfare of the world around him. Where does that feeling come from? It's part of the very fabric of his design. I'm sorry Disney fans, but Bambi's mother was wrong. The animals would not be so much better off if Man would just keep to himself. Even when the world was still perfect, we were created to manage it.

Dear Heavenly Father, I believe You created me to be a reflection of You in my little corner of the world. Equip me and guide me so that when other people see me, they're reminded of You. In Jesus' Name, Amen.